Dash Vol. 2 Page 3

  “I’m not here to butter you up. I’m here to tell you the truth.”

  “Why should I believe you? You haven’t called me. It’s been two days, Dash.”

  “I’m sorry. I went home with your father, and although I’m still somewhat sore, I’ve spent every waking moment with your father going over our plans. We needed a new one, and we are running out of time.”

  “I’m sorry that you’re still hurting.” I can only imagine what the crash did to his body. He’s very lucky that nothing was broken.

  His head starts to come down to mine. I reach out and softly place my hand on his chest and push him away from me. “Did you really think that you could show up here and expect me to just lie down and spread my legs for you?” I ask in all seriousness.

  “What do you want from me?” he asks, taking a step back to give us even more space.

  “The truth,” I snap, finding my anger again. “I’m pretty sure that is what you promised me at the track.”

  He runs a hand through his hair with frustration. “What do you wanna know? That Valerie and I were engaged.”

  “Engaged?” I squeak. “How have you failed to mention that to me?”

  “It was a long time ago.” He shrugs as if it’s no big deal.

  “It couldn’t have been that long ago,” I snap. “You’re only twenty-two years old,” I remind him, in case he has forgotten.

  “Okay. It was three years ago.”

  I release a long breath. Just fucking great! So this bitch is expecting to marry him. So much for him and I having any chance together.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  DASH

  I didn’t want to tell her about the engagement, knowing it would only lead to more fucking questions. But at what point do I stop hiding things from her?

  “It seems like a lifetime ago,” I say truthfully. “We had known each other for a long time. Our parents are best friends.”

  She gives a rough laugh. “Of course¸ they are.”

  I ignore her and continue. “After high school, we got together. It didn’t take long for us to get serious. I proposed, she said yes. And then, we split.” I shrug carelessly.

  “My gosh,” she says wide-eyed. “Did it really not mean that much to you?” she asks as if she can’t imagine a world where lovers fall in and out of love.

  “Do you still love Rodger?” It’s a simple question, yet her face hardens and her body stiffens.

  “No.” It comes out as a growl.

  I take her hands in mine and squeeze them tightly. “See, it’s possible to no longer want someone.”

  She nods her head in understanding. “But she won’t give you up. Shit, my dad thinks you two are together.”

  “And Rodger is still trying to get you back,” I say. “But we can fix the problem with your dad.”

  She eyes me skeptically. “What do you mean?”

  “Let’s tell your father.” It’s time to come clean. I can only keep so many secrets.

  She starts shaking her head quickly as she pulls away. “Look, you wanted me to prove this to you, let me.”

  “You’ll lose everything. We both know that he will drop you.”

  “I’ve been telling you from the start that I would risk everything for you, yet I have risked nothing. We’ve kept it a secret.”

  “Because we have no other choice,” she says frustrated.

  “We have a choice. I have a choice.” I place my hands in her hair and she closes her eyes as I tighten my hands in it. “I choose you, Tabatha. You’re better than any dream I have ever had. Because you are real. You’re right here in front of me.” And with that, I lower my lips to her. She opens her mouth for me, allowing me in, and I take over. Pushing my tongue into her mouth and working our lips together.

  When I pull away, I take her by her hand. “Grab your car keys.”

  “Why?”

  “’Cause I’m still sore as fuck and I should not have ridden my bike over here.”

  We pull up to her father’s house, and she reaches over to grab my hand. She squeezes it tightly, and I squeeze it back. “It’s going to be okay,” I reassure her once again.

  “You don’t know him the way that I do. And what are we gonna tell him?” Her eyes widen as if she just thought of this. “He’s gonna ask how we met. When it happened? Why you didn’t think of the team first.”

  She’s starting to panic. I yank my hand out of hers and place them on her cheeks to make her face me. “It will be fine. Let me do all the talking. Okay?”

  “But…?”

  “No buts. I will take care of all of it.” She’s reluctant but nods her head.

  I let go of her and get out of the car. I go around the car and open her door. I grab her hand and hold on tighter when she tries to pull away. We enter the house and I close the door quietly behind us. “Dash, is that you?” I hear Mr. Knight call out from down the hall. Sounds like he is already in his office. I told him earlier that I had to run out and do a few things and then would be right back.

  “Yes, sir,” I call out as well.

  Tabatha comes to a halt, and I yank on her hand to get her to walk again.

  “Stop stopping,” I say quietly. We come to the office door and she pulls me up against the wall.

  “I just don’t think we should hold hands. It’s not a smart thing. Let’s see how he reacts first.”

  “Okay,” I say running my hand through her soft hair. “Whatever makes you feel better.”

  I pull away and walk into his office. I would love to say that I’m as calm as I’m putting on, but I’m not. I’m just as nervous as Tabatha looks.

  “Erik…” Johnny starts but cuts himself off the moment that his daughter walks in after me. “What are you doing here, Tabatha?” His voice has an edge to it as if she’s interrupting whatever he wants to talk to me about.

  “I…uh…wanted to talk to you about school,” she stumbles as she looks him in the eye.

  He waves her off. “Later. I have to speak to Erik alone. I’ll speak to you about your schooling when I’m done.” He then looks away from her. She wastes no time before she turns away and all but runs out of the office.

  “What do you need, Mr. Knight?” I ask as I sit down and lean over, placing my elbows on my knees. I feel calmed getting a few extra minutes to collect my thoughts on how I’m gonna tell my boss that I’m with his daughter.

  “We have a problem,” he says and his dark brown eyes stare into mine.

  Does he already know about Tabatha and me? How could he, though?

  “What’s the problem?” I ask starting to break out in a sweat.

  “You threw a party last week. The same exact night that I had you arrested.” He speaks slowly letting it sink in.

  I swallow nervously. The party that I slept with his daughter at. Hours after he told me no parties, alcohol, or drugs. “Yes, sir.” I try to say it without sounding like I actually did something wrong.

  He looks down to his table shaking his head. “I told you no parties. No alcohol. And no trouble with the cops.”

  I sit up straight. “Cops? Sir, I know you said no parties, but I had not signed yet. The party was tame and there were no cops…”

  He slams his hand down on the table. “And you think that’s okay?”

  “I swear I had no idea who she was,” I blurt out. “She…”

  “She?” he interrupts me

  “Yes. That night was my first night to meet her. I swear I had no idea who she was.” God, I just broke like a little kid who stole a cookie out of his mother’s cookie jar.

  “I don’t care who the hell you met that night or what you two did.” Then he looks at me with narrowed eyes. “What does concern me is the parents who are threatening to sue you.”

  “What?” I ask as I jump from my seat. “Who in the hell is trying to sue me?” I demand. “And for what?”

  He places his hand up and gestures for me to sit back down as if he is now the calm one. “An underage male attended your par
ty and got drunk. He then drove and was involved in a car wreck.”

  “Shit. Is he okay?”

  He nods. “The sorry idiot will be fine. But since he was over the legal limit, he was arrested. The parents are now threatening to sue you for all damages. The cost of the DUI, and the cost to repair the car and the property that his car destroyed.”

  “Can they do that?” I ask. “I haven’t been notified of anything.”

  “I was just notified after you left here this morning. I told you that I had pull in this town, and I have very well-paid attorneys who make sure everything involving me or my company lands on their desk. It has not gone public yet, but I have no doubt that they will try.”

  “So what do I do?” How is this happening?

  “Absolutely nothing! I’m gonna take care of it.” Just as he says that, his fax machine alerts him of a new fax. “Just in time,” he says reaching over to grab it. He speaks as he hands it over to me. “Do you remember this boy?”

  It’s his mug shot. He looks like he has been drinking for days. “I don’t remember seeing him,” I say looking over his messy hair and green, bloodshot eyes.

  “So you’re saying you didn’t personally serve him alcohol?” he asks placing his forearms on his desk. “’Cause the parents said that you did.”

  “Not personally,” I shrug before laying the pic back on his desk. “I didn’t know every person who was there. And about three hours into it, I went to my parents’ room…”

  He lifts his hands. “With the girl you were speaking of earlier?” he asks and I give him a nod as I kick myself for saying that. I used to be great under pressure, but now, not so much. Guess when you have a lot at stake things are different.

  “We should contact her. She may have seen him. Let me have her name and number. The attorney will also want to speak with her.”

  Fuck me! “Well…uh, she…”

  My head shifts quickly and I flinch from the discomfort to look at the door when it swings open. “Dad. Let me explain.” She was listening?

  “Sweet pea.” He stands from his desk. “I told you that we would discuss your schooling later. I am in an important meeting.”

  She takes a deep breath as she closes her eyes. When she opens them, she pushes her shoulders back and takes the three steps that have her standing right in front of his desk. She leans over and picks up the mug shot. She looks it over for a few seconds as her father and I stare at her silently. He has a look of pure confusion and annoyance on his aged face. My wide eyes go back and forth between them.

  “I saw him,” she announces before placing the paper down by her side.

  “You know him?” her father asks as his brows draw together. “From school?”

  She shakes her head. “I saw him, Daddy. At the party.”

  “You what? What party?” He looks over at me, and I shift in my seat under his black gaze. Here it goes! I can see the second that his face goes from confusion to livid that he has put two and two together. “Erik’s party? You were at his party that night?”

  “Yes, sir,” she answers keeping her shoulders back and head high.

  “What were you doing there?”

  “I went with Jackie.”

  “I don’t give a shit who you went with. I wanna know what you were doing there in the first place!” he demands.

  “I had just broke up with Rodger and wanted to go have some fun. Jackie told me about it, so we went. I had no idea that you had hired Dash earlier that day.”

  “Why would that matter to me?” he asks placing his hands on his hips.

  “I…we…” She starts to fumble over her words again. And I realize what a pussy I’ve been.

  I rub my sweaty hands on my pants and then stand. “Tabatha is the woman that I was with the night of my party,” I announce and she spins around to stare at me wide-eyed. What was I supposed to say? This is why we came here in the first place. I mean, I was going to leave out the part where I slept with his drunk daughter before I even knew who she was.

  “What?” he barks, making her jump. “You were with him that night? With him how?” he shouts.

  Okay. So maybe I should have worded it differently. I place my hands in front of me as if I’m about to beg for my life. “I swear it’s not what it sounds like.”

  “Really?” he snaps, looking over at me. “Then what the hell is it? Sounds like you used my daughter to me.”

  “No, Daddy, it wasn’t like that.”

  His head spins to face her. “And what in the hell were you thinking? You work for me. Do you know what this will look like when it gets out? ‘Cause it will get out.”

  “What?” I question, looking at her. “You work for your father?”

  “I didn’t think it was that important,” she mumbles.

  He drops to his seat with a heavy sigh. For the first time since I met him, he runs his head through his silver hair messing up the perfect strands. “This is going to be big news when the media finds out.”

  “Why? I’m nobody,” she says softly.

  “Nobody?” he asks, shocked that she could have said that. “You’re my daughter who is sleeping with an employee. Who has a girlfriend. They will eat it up.”

  “They’re not together,” she says as she starts to sniff.

  “Oh?” He turns to face me once again. “Is that what you told her?”

  “It’s the truth,” I say. “We haven’t been together for some time.”

  He hangs his head as if this couldn’t get any worse. And at that exact second, his phone rings. Reaching over, he picks it up. “Hello?” he asks and I turn to her.

  Reaching out, I turn her to face me. “Hey,” I coo, wiping the single tear off her cheek with my thumb. “It’s okay. We will work through it,” I assure her, but she shrugs as if she doesn’t believe that is a possibility.

  I take a step away from her and look back at Mr. Knight as he hangs up the phone. “Tabatha, leave,” he orders, not even bothering to look over at her.

  “But Daddy…”

  “Leave!” he roars and she spins around and runs out of the office, slamming the door behind her.

  “We have a new problem,” he growls pointing to the couch for me to sit my ass down.

  “What is it?” I ask reluctantly, not even really wanting to know what it is exactly. What could be worse than sleeping with his daughter?

  “That was my main mechanic who is working on the bike you crashed. They just found the problem.”

  “Oh?”

  “You were right. It was the brakes. They were cut.”

  “Cut? Cut how?” I ask in wonderment. “How was that possible? The first few rounds they were fine. If they would have cut them when I was off of it then we would have seen them.”

  He rubs his chin for a few seconds as he looks straight ahead thinking over what I said. “You came in. You got off your bike. Where did you go?”

  Great. Everything from now on is going to lead back to his daughter. “I went to talk to Tabatha. Valerie had shown up. I knew that she was talking smack to her when I saw Tabatha walk away. I had to explain that she was lying.” He nods his head as if he’s starting to understand my reasoning. “But you were right there with the bike, right?”

  “Yes, but…” he pauses, “I had a phone call. I walked away from the bike to answer it. It wasn’t more than a three-minute phone call, but someone would have only needed a second to cut it.”

  “There was no one else there,” I remind him.

  “Yes, there was. Valerie.”

  She wouldn’t. I start to shake my head in protest. “She knows nothing about bikes. How would she know what to do?” Would she go that far to kill me? Yep.

  He shrugs. “You can learn anything on the internet these days. The question is why she would do it,” he asks.

  “’Cause she’s a vindictive bitch who knows that I have feelings for your daughter,” I say in all seriousness.

  His eyebrows raise to his hairline. “Feelings?”
<
br />   There it is. My opportunity to show him what it is that I want. “Yes, sir. Let me explain about that night of my party.”

  He shakes his head. “I spent months doing research on you, son.” My eyes widen in surprise. “I know that you come from money. I know you’re an adrenaline junky. And I know you live to race. But you’re not who I picture when I see someone for my daughter.”

  “With all due respect, sir. The only thing you know about me is what your research has told you. You once told me that we are alike. And that we both take risks. I’m willing to risk racing for you, for her. That’s what we were planning to tell you tonight. If you give me an ultimatum, I will pick her. ‘Cause to me, she’s worth more than some plastic and a track.” I finish up and then stand from my chair.

  He stands as well and sighs in acceptance. “We made a deal and I’m not going back on it,” he says with a smirk. “But I do have a request.”

  “Which is?”

  “Keep it as quiet as possible. If you’re going to see her, do it here. Don’t go to her house. Don’t go to your house together. Your crash at the track was all over the news. They know you were released and are staying with your boss. Myself! I can almost guarantee you that Valerie is not doing it on her own. She has help. Let’s keep them blind to what is going on, because as good as you are for this team, I will kill you myself if my daughter is caught in the crossfire.”

  I nod in understanding. “I don’t want that, either.”

  “Good.” He sits back down. “Oh, and keep this a secret from Tabatha. As far as she is concerned, the wreck was a complete accident. Now go and calm her down. She’s probably cussing me on Twitter or some other social network by now. I’m heading off to the shop to look at the bike myself.”

  Great! Another lie. As soon as I close the office door, I can hear her voice from the other side of the house. She’s yelling at someone, and I figure it’s her mother.

  Making my way down the long hall, I round the end and find her standing with her back to me.

  “Stop fucking calling,” she yells as she holds her phone in front of her mouth. She hits end and then throws it down onto the table.

  “Wow,” I say coming up behind her. She spins around and looks behind me. She wraps her arms gently around me and I inhale her scent. God, it’s been two days, and I’ve missed her like crazy.